INDUSTRY

SAN JOSE, CA -- Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO), a worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced 14 new platforms and several enhancements to its broad portfolio of modular access routers. The new, higher-performance products and enhancements are designed to extend network intelligence -- in the form of security, availability, and Quality of Service (QoS) -- to the enterprise branch office and remote worker, providing them with access to the same capabilities as their headquarters colleagues. The market's transformation to a full-service branch office places new demands on access infrastructure and drives requirements for new levels of security, performance, flexibility, and service integration. The platforms announced today include a new product family, the Cisco 3700 Series Application Service Routers, comprised of the Cisco 3725 and Cisco 3745 Routers. In addition, Cisco added new routers to its Cisco 2600 and Cisco 1700 Series Modular Access Routers and broadband router portfolio, including the Cisco 2691 Modular Access Router; the Cisco 2600XM Modular Access Routers (including the Cisco 2610XM, Cisco 2611XM, Cisco 2620XM, Cisco 2621XM, Cisco 2650XM and 2651XM routers); the Cisco 1760 and 1721 Modular Access Routers; and the Cisco 827H, Cisco SOHO 71, and Cisco SOHO 77H Broadband Routers. Cisco also introduced a 36 port 10/100 EtherSwitch high-density service module (HDSM) for the Cisco 3700 and 3600 Series Routers. In a related announcement, Cisco today unveiled enhancements to the Cisco 7300, 7400, 7500 and 7600 Series multiservice routing platform for enterprises (for more information visit the Cisco Newsroom at News@Cisco). The new products and enhancements further extend Cisco's broad router portfolio from the single corporate teleworker and small office, to the enterprise branch and headquarters, through to the service provider's network edge. According to a 2002 University of California Net Impact Study, the adoption of network-enabled applications, such as collaboration tools, video conferencing and distance learning, will be the most important factor impacting future productivity growth for U.S. companies. The study also indicates there is a direct correlation between productivity improvements and the extension of business processes across the entire organization, value chain, and ecosystem. Allowing branch office and remote workers to take advantage of network-enabled applications increases productivity and reduces costs by allowing employees outside of the main office to function as if they were located side-by-side with their headquarters colleagues. "Today's economic environment is driving enterprise customers to focus on IT investments with high impact to the business. Branch locations in particular are deploying this next wave of applications, requiring new needs for security, QoS, and availability at the branch edge," said Joel Conover, senior analyst, of Current Analysis. "Branches need a single-platform solution, with the power to support a range of intelligent services, that can fulfill their current access needs for advanced applications and provide the flexibility to future-proof their networks for the next generation of applications tomorrow." Network Intelligence: Availability, QoS, Security and Manageability To adopt and embrace these types of applications throughout the organization, businesses need an access solution that delivers intelligent services to branch offices and remote workers, transforming these sites into full-service branch offices. Intelligent services, enabled by Cisco IOS(R) software, include security, availability, QoS and manageability. Together, these features are the foundation for successful implementation of network-enabled applications. To meet the needs of the full-service branch office requires security to help keep corporate data safe from unauthorized access; manageability so technical staff is not burdened by excessive network setup or maintenance at remote locations; high availability services to enhance network reliability and optimize accessibility of the applications; and QoS so mission-critical and time sensitive traffic receives the appropriate priority. The new Cisco routers are all based on Cisco IOS software, the de-facto standard for Internet operations. Cisco IOS Software offers a number of advanced security features, including stateful inspection firewall, IPSec virtual private network (VPN), and an intrusion detection system (IDS) to keep the network and sensitive information secure. Many of the platforms included in today's announcement also offer hardware acceleration to deliver enhanced 3DES VPN performance. Cisco IOS Software allows remote configuration and troubleshooting, helping network administrators address potential issues before network performance is disrupted. In addition, Cisco IOS Software enables administrators to determine QoS by prioritizing traffic by application or user, ensuring that strategic and time-sensitive applications get highest priority. To achieve the highest standards of manageability, the new platforms support the wide range of Cisco management tools available including CiscoWorks 2000, CiscoWorks for Windows and Cisco Easy VPN, a software enhancement based on Cisco's Unified Client Framework, which simplifies VPN deployment for enterprise branches, remote offices and corporate teleworkers.